I’ve always had trouble with the Hollywood movie portrayal of violence. Calm down, I’m not trying to start a debate. I’m just saying that it strikes me as odd how characters in films can witness, enact, and assist in extremely violent acts of war, murder, or even self-defense—and simply walk it off. Occasionally we get a moment or two of doubt followed by a rousing speech that instantly fixes everything and off we go again. But that’s the trope, isn’t it? The fact is that if the hero, heroine, or band of brothers gives up—end of movie. They have to falter and get back up, and they have to do it quickly or we’ll click over to one of the million other things streaming. Books get a little more wiggle room, but even there authors have a limited reader attention span to consider. There’s a reason books that achieve literary acclaim are not pulling down the “numbers” of books that cater to the masses. Week 8